IRREGULAR MIGRATION IN GREECE CLANDESTINO Research Project Counting the Uncountable: Data and Trends across Europe The project aims The countries studied Methods, Data and Period of Reference Classification of data & esti- mates Terminology Definitions Trafficking & Asylum Seeking July 2009 Policy Brief - GREECE CLANDESTINO PROJECT OVERVIEW The CLANDESTINO research project is a response to the need for supporting policy mak- ers in designing and implementing appropriate policies regarding undocumented migration. The project aims (a) to provide an inventory of data and estimates on undocumented mi- gration (stocks and flows) in selected EU countries, (b) to analyse these data comparatively, (c) to discuss the ethical and methodological issues involved in the collection of data, the elaboration of estimates and their use, (d) to propose a new method for evaluating and clas- sifying data/estimates on undocumented migration in the EU. Twelve EU countries (Greece, Italy, France and Spain in southern Europe; Netherlands, UK, Germany and Austria in Western and Central Europe; Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic in Central Eastern Europe) and three non EU transit migration coun- tries (Turkey, Ukraine and Morocco) have been under study in this project. Each country report reviews all relevant data sources on irregular migration (e.g. appre- hended aliens at the border or in the inland, expulsion orders, people registered through health or other welfare schemes for undocumented immigrants, municipal registers, statisti- cal estimates from national and European statistical services), assesses the validity of the different estimates given and produces a new estimate for year 2007 for each country stud- ied. The country reports cover the period between 2000 and 2007 and the database offers estimates for each country for years 2001, 2004 and 2007 (as the last year for which data or estimates were available when the study was conducted, that is in late 2008). This quantita- tive analysis is complemented by the critical review of qualitative studies and by interviews with key informants with a view to exploring the pathways into and out of irregular status in each country. It is noted that the non-registered nature of irregular migration as a social phenomenon makes any quantification difficult and always produces estimates rather than hard data. The Clandestino project has created a database (http://irregular-migration.hwwi.net/ ) which presents and classifies (as low, medium or high quality) estimates and data on irregu- lar migration in the 12 EU countries studied. The terms irregular (with no regular/legal status), undocumented (without the appropriate papers) and unauthorized (without legal permission for entry, stay or work) migration de- note different facets of the wider phenomenon of irregular migration. These terms are ac- cepted and used by the Clandestino consortium as synonyms. The term illegal is accepted by the consortium when referring to a condition (e.g. illegal work or illegal entry) but not in relation to a person (illegal migrant). For this project, irregular or undocumented residents are defined as residents without any legal resident status in the country they are residing in, and those whose presence in the territory – if detected – may be subject to termination through an order to leave and/or an expulsion order because of their activities. Irregular entrants are persons who cross an international border without the required valid documents, either un-inspected over land or sea, or over ports of entry. For more see: http://clandestino.eliamep.gr/category/irregular- migration-ethics-in-research/ The Clandestino project is not concerned with Trafficking in Human Beings because it con- siders this as a separate even if related phenomenon. Clandestino research touches upon asylum seeking and asylum processing issues only insofar they are related, in some countries, to irregular migration issues. http://clandestino.eliamep.gr by Anna Triandafyllidou & Thanos Maroukis